New Canadian foreign policy on Arctic includes EBM

The Canadian government has announced a new Arctic foreign policy to guide how the country works with its regional neighbors. The strategy, consisting of four pillars (exercising Arctic sovereignty, protecting environmental heritage, promoting socioeconomic development, and improving Northern governance), is designed to foster a stable region with dynamic growth and healthy ecosystems.

As part of its environmental protection aspect, the policy calls for promoting an ecosystem-based management approach with the country's Arctic neighbors, including designation of more terrestrial and marine protected areas across the region. It also calls for supporting international efforts to address the causes and effects of climate change in the Arctic. The government's statement on the new Arctic foreign policy is at www.international.gc.ca/polar-polaire/assets/pdfs/CAFP_booklet-PECA_livret-eng.pdf.

Report describes EBM projects along West Coast of US

A new publication provides lessons from six community-based initiatives to implement marine and coastal EBM along the US West Coast - in the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The six initiatives comprise the West Coast EBM Network, formed in 2008. The Network, funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, connects existing local EBM efforts in the three states and also links to initiatives elsewhere at state, regional, and national levels.

The first half of the publication provides background on the network and each of its member projects, while the second half describes five distinct steps toward community-driven EBM, along with examples of how each step has been implemented at selected sites. "Our guide highlights the real-world application of EBM with a few succinct stories about what EBM looks like in coastal communities," says John Hansen, coordinator of the network. The report Community-Based Management of Coastal Ecosystems is available at www.westcoastebm.org.

Working group releases consensus statement on EBM principles

A Canadian working group with personnel from academia, First Nations (indigenous populations), government, industry, and NGOs has released a consensus statement outlining principles for the implementation of marine ecosystem-based management. The Sidney Consensus - named for the town in British Columbia where the group was convened - aims to provide an applied and accessible description of marine EBM.

"This document was created in response to concerns commonly encountered by stakeholders and governments," says Heather Coleman of PacMARA (Pacific Marine Analysis and Research Association), which managed the effort. "We hope it will now aid in the process of creating a marine EBM implementation framework for British Columbia." Coleman says that although the principles were developed in Canada, they could be applied elsewhere. The consensus statement also features supporting material that elaborates on concepts behind the EBM principles. It is available at http://pacmara.org/ebm_dialogue.

Comparing management of large marine areas

A new report, co-published by Conservation International (CI) and Flora & Fauna International, compares five approaches to managing large marine areas worldwide and outlines the strengths and weaknesses of each in applying EBM. The five approaches characterized by the publication are Marine Ecoregions, Seascapes, Large Marine Ecosystems, Regional Seas Programmes, and Integrated Coastal Management. Generally, each approach is favored by particular NGOs or international institutions. WWF and The Nature Conservancy, for example, favor the Marine Ecoregion approach to management, whereas CI favors Seascapes and UNEP implements its Regional Seas Programmes. The 154-page publication Comparison of Approaches to Management of Large Marine Areas is available atwww.conservation.org/documents/CI_FFI_Management_of_Large_Marine_Areas.pdf.

Report: Best practices in community-based watershed management

A report featuring lessons from a December 2009 symposium on community-based reforestation and watershed management in the Pacific region is now available. The symposium surveyed current watershed projects in the region, participatory approaches, and reforestation techniques, with particular focus on sites in Fiji and Vanuatu. It was convened by the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. The report Best-Practice Symposium on Community-based Reforestation/Watershed Management is available at http://bit.ly/95Wk81.

Geotechnologies and marine spatial planning

Presentations, papers, and other materials from the GIslands 2010 International Summer School on Marine Spatial Planning are available for free at www.gislands.org. The six-day course, which focused on the application of geographic technologies to spatial planning, was held in August 2010 in the Azores in the North Atlantic.

A cartoon guide to maritime spatial planning

WWF Germany has published a cartoon guide to implementing maritime spatial planning (MSP) in the Baltic Sea, titled "Become a Maritime Spatialist in 10 Minutes". The 28-page guide uses drawings, humor, and limited text to explain what MSP is, why it is needed, and what a Baltic sea zoning plan could look like. It is designed to be easily understood by a range of audiences, and is available in multiple languages (English, Latvian, Estonian, Latvian, German). The guide is downloadable at www.baltseaplan.eu/downloads/WWF_Cartoon_MSP.pdf.

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